UNITED States President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, is set to resign from his position, marking the first shakeup within Trump’s inner circle since he assumed office in January.
This latest development was confirmed by four sources familiar with the situation according to Reuters.
The report also stated that Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, an Asian expert and former State Department official who focused on North Korea during Trump’s first term would also step down.
The ICIR reported that Waltz shared war plans in a signal messaging group that included a journalist days before the US attacked Houthis in Yemen in March.
Waltz, a 51-year-old former Republican Congressman from Florida, came under fire within the White House after the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was erroneously added to an encrypted Signal chat group published the story a few days after.
During a later Cabinet meeting attended by Waltz, Trump emphasised the importance of conducting such discussions in a secure environment, an unmistakable indication of his dissatisfaction.
Nonetheless, both he and other White House officials voiced their confidence in Waltz at the time and Waltz also attended Trump’s televised Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Sources indicated that the Signal controversy was not the only issue held against Waltz.
According to a source familiar with the Cabinet’s internal dynamics, Waltz was considered too hawkish for Trump, who prefers to avoid war, and was viewed as ineffective in coordinating foreign policy across multiple agencies, one of the national security adviser’s primary responsibilities.
“The system isn’t running properly,” under Waltz, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The National Security Council (NSC) serves as the primary forum for presidents to coordinate security strategy, with its staff frequently playing a crucial role in shaping U.S. responses to some of the world’s most volatile conflicts.
It remains unclear who will succeed Waltz, but one potential candidate is US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who has been engaged in diplomacy related to both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Middle East, according to a source.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau was also mentioned as a potential candidate, the same source said.
The ICIR reported that United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was reported to have also repeatedly shared details of a March attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in a separate signal message group.
The revelation emerged just days after Dan Caldwell, one of Hegseth’s top advisers, was escorted out of the Pentagon after being identified in an investigation into leaks at the Department of Defence.
After Caldwell’s departure, Darin Selnick, who recently became Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, and Colin Carroll, former chief of staff to Deputy Defence Secretary Steve Feinberg, were placed on administrative leave and dismissed last Friday.
Similarly, Pentagon’s former top spokesperson, John Ullyot, who resigned last week, criticised the Pentagon leadership in a POLITICO Magazine opinion piece published on Sunday.
The Trump administration has taken a hardline stance against leaks.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.